Starbucks and Ele.me reportedly teaming up to offer delivery

Photograph: Szymon Jarocki via Unsplash

Starbucks straight to your door

There have been a few ambitious crossover events in recent times: Avengers: Infinity War; that episode of Family Guy where they ended up in Springfield; the unholy pizza-baozi hybrid that is the baozza. Well, get set for another as it's looking like Starbucks and Ele.me will be teaming up to offer waimai coffee orders.

According to SCMP, Alibaba's delivery service will soon be joining forces with the international coffee giant to deliver coffee straight to your door. Despite no comment coming yet from either Ele.me or Starbucks, Chinese business news publication Caijing has already broken the news on the venture.

The move may come as a result of the competition coming from on-demand service from Luckin Coffee, as well as a recent decline in sales, with a two percent drop in store sales reported in the most recent quarter – all this despite the roaring success of Shanghai's Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Beijing's own newly opened 10,000 square-foot flagship.

While there has been no official confirmation of when or if this will actually happen, it looks like Starbucks is determined to dominate the Chinese market, with plans to open 3,000 more stores on the Mainland by 2022, as well as their pet-friendly store ambitions.

Starbucks not really your cup of tea (joe)? Hit 'Read more' for Beijing's best cafés.

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